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Week 9 CFB Picks: Can Notre Dame Avoid the Upset at Temple?

Thank you, Florida State, for making Week 8 a little more difficult to predict than we had expected. Please don’t do the same thing in Week 9.

Today’s U Assistant Managing Editor Adam Biggers (@AdamBiggers81) and a featured guest will be providing their weekly Top 25 picks, testing their knowledge by contesting me (@Tyler_Waddell) for bragging rights (and maybe a gratifying pat on the back) at the end of the season.

With us this week is FanRag Sports Director of Content Tommy Stokke. Check out all of his latest columns by clicking this link, and be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@StokkeTommy).

It still wasn’t perfect, but last week’s 45-12 record between all three experts was a major improvement from Week 7’s horrendous 32-19 mark. We’ll be looking to test our luck against what could to be an underrated lineup of games on Halloween weekend.

Tyler Waddell: Notre Dame facing an undefeated Temple team in Philadelphia on Halloween night with a College GameDay crowd? How many more signs of a looming upset do you need? Here’s the only one that matters: The Fighting Irish haven’t lost a road game to a non-Power Five opponent since Week 1 of the 2004 season (BYU). The outcome will likely be decided by which team has the most success running the football with effectiveness — the smaller amount of negative plays in the backfield — while winning the turnover battle (and trust me, there will be turnovers). I’m expecting the Owls (-11) to cover, but Notre Dame leaves the City of Brotherly Love with just a scare.

Adam Biggers: Notre Dame has done this before. Stage-fright shouldn’t be an issue for the Irish; however, it could be enough to rattle Temple. At 7-0, the Owls are one of the nation’s biggest surprises–if not the biggest. Who would have thought that we’d be talking about the one-loss Irish and unbeaten TEMPLE OWLS at this stage of the game.

Notre Dame will be Temple’s biggest challenge this season–but not its biggest win.

Too much of Irish QB Deshone Kizer and running back C.J. Prosise… way too much.

Notre Dame 33, Temple 17

Tommy Stokke: Temple hosts College Gameday, which should bring out enough fans to make Philadelphia a tough place to play for Notre Dame. However, Notre Dame is battle-tested with a road game against Clemson, where it fell just short 24-22. Overall, DeShone Kizer played well, but Temple’s run defense makes me believe it will be able to contain him. But the Irish haven’t had expectations under Kizer yet. Maybe you can call USC pressure, but Notre Dame was at home playing against a team that didn’t have a head coach. On the road against a Temple team that has nothing to lose doesn’t bode well for a Fighting Irish team that has nothing to gain and everything to lose. I’ll take the upset.

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